Great time of year for some comfort food!

It’s comfort food season andSpicyGreek® Spice Blends will make your favorite crock pot and casserole dishes explode with flavor! We have been in the foodservice business for over 40 years and would be happy to answer any of your food prep/party planning questions. Add some “OPA” to your food!

Great Holiday Gift Idea!

SpicyGreek® Spice Blends make a great holiday gift for anyone that loves to cook. Add some “OPA” to your food!

CarvSmart Cutting Boards Have Arrived!

Our latest invention, CarvSmart cutting Boards are finally in some local stores (Dorothy Lane Markets, Jungle Jim’s and Whole Foods) and will soon be available online.

CarvSmart Carving Boards were developed with both the foodservice professional and the “foodie” in mind. With over 40 years in commercial foodservice, I have experienced and discussed with consumers and chefs, the frustration with messes associated with regular cutting boards, especially when preparing or carving meat, poultry or seafood. Juices spill over regular cutting boards and onto counters, tables, tablecloths and floors due to the inability to capture these natural juices.

My new creation, CarvSmart Carving Boards, eliminates the mess when preparing or carving your food. CarvSmart’s Patent Pending Juice Retention Technology traps the natural juices from your food and holds them for later use in sauces or gravies or for easy disposal, leaving your tables and counters clean and germ-free. CarvSmart boards are FDA & USDA approved, antimicrobial and moisture-resistant to protect against germs, and are dishwasher safe for easy cleaning, unlike wooden boards.

Mediterranean diet may be better for your heart than cutting down on fat!

If you want to reap heart-healthy benefits, you may want to go on the Mediterranean diet.

A Spanish study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Feb. 25, showed the Mediterranean diet was able to help people who were at high risk for cardiovascular disease more than a low-fat diet. What’s more, subjects who ate a Mediterranean diet heavy in nuts had the largest reduction in stroke risk.

U.S. News’ best diets for 2013

The Mediterranean Diet asks eaters to follow a pyramid that emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, olive oil, beans, nuts, legumes, seeds, herbs and spices. People are asked to eat fish and seafood at least two times a week, consume poultry, eggs, cheese and yogurt in moderate daily to weekly amounts and avoid red meats and sweets when they can. Drinking plenty of water and having wine in moderation are also encouraged.

The researchers looked at a group of 7,447 people in Spain who had a risk factors for heart disease including smoking, being overweight, having high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes. All participants were between the ages of 55 to 80 years of age.

The subjects were instructed to follow either a Mediterranean diet that emphasized nuts, a Mediterranean diet that focused on olive oil, or a low-fat diet, and they were followed-up with for about five years. The olive oil group consumed about 34 ounces of olive oil a week, while those in the nuts group ate about one ounce of walnuts, hazelnuts and almonds a day. Both Mediterranean diet groups consumed vegetables, fruits, fish, drank wine with meals and occasionally ate white meat while avoiding red meat.

Groups that ate the Mediterranean diet regardless of if they ate more nuts or olive oil had a 30 percent greater reduction in heart disease risks compared to the low-fat group. Particularly, the olive-oil group had a 33 percent reduction in stroke risk, while the nuts group had a 46 percent lower stroke risk.

Dr. Steven E. Nissen, chairman of the department of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, pointed out to the New York Times that the benefits of low-fat diets have not been as lauded because they are hard to maintain.

“Now along comes this group and does a gigantic study in Spain that says you can eat a nicely balanced diet with fruits and vegetables and olive oil and lower heart disease by 30 percent,” he said. “And you can actually enjoy life.”

In addition, the Mediterranean diet shows that people don’t necessarily need to cut all fats from their life in order to live a healthy lifestyle, Walter Willet, chair of the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, told USA Today. The Mediterranean diet is rich in “healthy fats” like omega-3 fatty acids found in salmon and walnuts, but is low in saturated fats from fried foods.

“Fat in the diet continues to be demonized, even though the evidence is clear that some types of fat improve blood cholesterol,” Willett said. “This study adds further proof that diets high in healthy fats can be superior to a low-fat diet.”

Welcome Whole Foods!

SpicyGreek® Spice blends are now available at Whole Foods in Mason & Norwood…welcome to the SpicyGreek® family and please support our partners!

Welcome Country Fresh Markets!

We’d like to welcome a new partner to the SpicyGreek® family. Country Fresh Markets in Cincinnati has 2 locations – Hartwell and Anderson. Please check out our products and support this local retailer.

Mediterranean Food Trends

Did you know that Mediterranean food is the fastest growing segment in the food industry? People who follow a Mediterranean diet are likely to be happier in life. This is the conclusion of a new report published in the journal ‘Archives of General Psychiatry’. The study’s authors say a diet that is rich in vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grains and fish seems to make people less likely to develop depression. This may explain why people who live in Mediterranean countries are more laid back than other Europeans. There are fewer mental disorders in Mediterranean countries and scientists believe this could be because of the diet. The new research supports previous studies that suggested olive oil protects against depression. No Greek meal is complete without olive oil.

Kids Are Now Eating Their Vegetables!

Parents are telling us that their kids who would never eat vegetables are loving them with SpicyGreek® Vegetable Blend!

Is It Spicy Hot?

There seems to be a misconception that Mediterranean spices are hot. None of our SpicyGreek® blends are spicy hot. They all provide bold and complex flavor profiles, but do not overpower the food it is applied to.